the summer solstice by nick joaquin pdf viewer

She raised her skirts and contemptuously thrust out a naked foot. He lay exhausted at her feet, his face flat on the floor. She stopped, panting, and leaned against the sill. Her fists were still clenched, and she cried: “Then come, crawl on the floor, and kiss my feet!” Without moment’s hesitation, he sprawled down flat and, working his arms and legs, gaspingly clawed his way across the floor, like a great agonized lizard, the woman steadily backing away as he approached, her eyes watching him avidly, her nostrils dilating, till behind her loomed the open window, the huge glittering moon, the rapid flashes of lightning. “Abah, it is a man!” “How dare he come in here?” “Break his head!” “Throw the animal out!” “Throw him out! “Hoy you are crushing my feet!” “And let go of my shawl, my shawl!” “Stop pushing, shameless one, or I kick you!” “Let me pass, let me pass, you harlots!” cried Don Paeng. Angry voices rose all about him in the stifling darkness. Inside poured the entire procession, and Don Paeng, finding himself trapped tight among milling female bodies, struggled with sudden panic to fight his way out.

He followed her, shouting she eluded him, laughing-and through the thick of the female horde they lost and found and lost each other again-she, dancing and he pursuing-till, carried along by the tide, they were both swallowed up into the hot, packed, turbulent darkness of the chapel. Don Paeng ran after her, shouting her name, but she laughed and shook her head and darted deeper into the dense maze of procession, which was moving again, towards the chapel. Her eyes brimmed with moonlight, and her mouth with laughter.

The summer solstice by nick joaquin pdf viewer